Tiplet expert tips & tech support

March 9, 2009

How and Where to Store Your Passwords Securely

Filed under: Internet,online computing,privacy & security — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Even a fairly casual Internet user has a list of several different passwords for things such as email, banking, shopping, and discussion forums. Do you have trouble keeping track of your passwords? Or are you one of those who have decided to use the same password for all your accounts? It’s easy to see why someone would want to do that, but it’s a very insecure way to manage your Internet life. All a cracker has to do is figure out one password and they have access to all your memberships and accounts. It’s much better to make and maintain separate, hard-to-guess passwords for each and every online login you have.
(more…)

How to Register and Set Up Your Own Domain Name

Filed under: blogging,Internet,online computing — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

So, you want your own Web site. Most people get started with a free hosting service such as Yahoo!’s Geocities, or a blog on a blog hosting site such as WordPress.com. But the domain names of such sites can be cumbersome, i. e., mysite.geocities.com or myblog.wordpress.com. If you want to be seen as a “land owner” rather than a tenant on someone else’s property, you should register and use your own domain name.
(more…)

How Can I Print the Contents of a Windows File Directory?

Filed under: applications,Vista,Windows — Tags: , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by Gabe Goldberg

Anyone who’s used a PC more than briefly has wandered through the fundamental directory/folder/file structure underlying Windows’ graphical user interface. And any PC that’s been used for a while likely has convoluted structures of user files — text, photo, spreadsheet, music, video, etc.

So it’s occasionally necessary to print the contents of Windows file folders (directories) for chores such as listing user folders and files contained in data backups, keeping family/hobby/volunteer material separate and organized, tracking files changed by software patches and installs, and noting file details when reporting problems.
(more…)

March 8, 2009

How Do I Convert MP4 and M4P to MP3?

Filed under: applications,digital media,photos and video — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

You may have downloaded a file with an MP4 extension and found that your audio player wouldn’t recognize the file. MP4 is a file format that can contain audio, video, or even still photos, but by default most audio players will not work with MP4. You’ll need a program that is specifically designed to convert your MP4 file to the MP3 format. Note that this only works for MP4 audio files, not those that contain video or other visual formats. MP3 is an audio-only file format. Look for a shareware or freeware program to convert your files, and follow the instructions.
(more…)

What to Do When You Cannot Connect to Your Email Server

Filed under: computer performance,e-mail,Internet,online computing,Windows — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

Email is as vital as a tongue to some people. They can’t imagine getting through a day without communicating via email. For others, checking email is just an occasional thing. But in either case, when people click that “send/receive” button they expect something to happen. When, instead, you get an error message that says in part, “cannot connect to server,” here are some potential solutions to try.
(more…)

How to Show the Date and Time on Your Mac’s Menu Bar

Filed under: Macintosh — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by Dee-Ann LeBlanc

Are you one of those people who never seems to know what day it is? On OS X it’s easy to see the time at a glance by looking to the upper right of your menu bar.

Adding just the day of the week is simple enough. In the upper left of your menu bar, click the Apple, then click “System Preferences.” In the “System” section of the “System Preferences” window, click “Date & Time,” then in the “Date & Time” dialog box, click “Clock.” There, you can check the “Show the day of the week” checkbox.
(more…)

March 7, 2009

How to Convert PowerPoint to Video to Post to YouTube

Filed under: applications,digital media,Internet,photos and video,Windows — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Q: How can I convert my PowerPoint productions to video so I can post to YouTube? — Marie

Converting the PowerPoint file format (.ppt) to a video format such as .avi or .wmv is possible, but it will probably cost you money and getting good results can be tricky whenever you’re making such a drastic change to the way a file is encoded. I recommend that instead of converting the file format, you download and install a free program called CamStudio.

CamStudio is a freeware screen recorder. It records all activity on your computer screen for the length of time you want, and saves it as an .avi file, suitable for replay and for uploading to a service such as Youtube.com. To use CamStudio, download and install it. Double-click the shortcut for CamStudio that was saved on your desktop.
(more…)

Help, My Task Manager Is Disabled

Filed under: computer performance,data storage and recovery,privacy & security,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

Windows’ built-in Task Manager is a pretty useful tool. It can help you shut down programs that are frozen or misbehaving. It can even shut down background processes that may be causing problems. Many people use Task Manager almost every day, so they are startled when they click on the Taskbar or press Ctl-Alt-Del and get something like this:

“Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.”

If you work in an office that has a systems administrator go talk to him or her about the problem. But if you don’t have an administrator, how did Task Manager get disabled and how can you turn it back on?
(more…)

How to Copy Data Files From Your Mac to Your iPhone

Filed under: applications,digital media,file transfer,Macintosh,mobile computing — Tags: , , , — admin @ 9:00 am

by Davis Strom

If you have an iPhone, one of your frustrations is that you don’t easily have any way to make copies of your files from your Mac desktop and view them. You can use iTunes to move videos, photos and music files, but anything else is an issue.

It is an odd omission: Any iPod since the very early days has the ability to act as an USB-connected hard drive and you can drag and drop files to it—as long as you have enough room on your iPod, that is. Luckily, there is a solution – actually, several solutions. You’ll need to download an app for your iPhone, and we found many of them that claim to offer this feature. Sadly, none of them allows this simple configuration of being able to plug your iPhone into your computer via USB. But since the iPhone is chock full of connectivity, there are several ways to skin the file transfer cat. We tested a variety of apps that can connect in between your desktop and iPhone in some interesting, and perhaps too clever, ways.
(more…)

March 6, 2009

Should You Worry About Backing Up Gmail?

Filed under: data storage and recovery,e-mail,Internet — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

Gmail is Google’s web mail service. It’s popular, easy to use, and free. One of the best features of Gmail is that it is easy to archive messages that you’ve already read, and search for them later using Google’s search technology. Google says you’ll never have to delete another message – they give you 7 GB of storage space for free. For that reason, some people have taken to using Gmail like a backup storage service by emailing files to themselves.
(more…)

How to Disable Internet Explorer

Filed under: computer performance,Internet,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

Internet Explorer (IE), Microsoft’s free Web browser included with all versions of Windows, is by far the most widely used browser just because it’s free and it’s there. Some people don’t like it, and install an alternative browser such as Firefox, Opera, or Google Chrome. Some people really hate IE and want it off their computers entirely.
(more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress